If you come here via RSS feed or other direct link, you'll need to revise the link on your blog or site. In My Little World has moved to...well, to MY little world. Please visit my relaunched website and new blog at ValerieComer.Com, poke around, and let me know what you think.
I plan to leave the archives here, so this link will remain on top.
I'd like to thank my daughter and webmaster Hanna Sandvig for all the work she's put into the new website (as well as the one it replaces). Hanna is an artist, illustrator, and geek who would love to design a site for you as well.
Thanks for hanging out with me here on Blogger and I hope you'll enjoy the new site with me. See you over there!
Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts
Friday, April 10, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
Pushing for words
My main excitement these days is the romance rewrite, so there's not a lot of variety in my life. There isn't room for it when I'm pushing for 3000 words a day around customers, sales dudes, and freight trucks. I admire folks who can work all day and still put out a meaningful set of words regularly in the evening. My brain just shuts down. (My kids used to call 10pm Mommy Pumpkin Time, but I have to admit 9pm isn't much better!)
Looks like I'll be up for teaching a workshop at Forward Motion in May, so I'm mulling over that and will soon have to start doing more than mulling and actually start planning!
In other news, my website redesign is coming along nicely. The old one is still what's showing when you click over, but I'm hoping to launch the new-and-improved version sometime in March. My daughter is doing the design and tech work on WordPress. Adding static pages is my job, and one I've already started. Coming soon to a valeriecomer.com near you!
Looks like I'll be up for teaching a workshop at Forward Motion in May, so I'm mulling over that and will soon have to start doing more than mulling and actually start planning!
In other news, my website redesign is coming along nicely. The old one is still what's showing when you click over, but I'm hoping to launch the new-and-improved version sometime in March. My daughter is doing the design and tech work on WordPress. Adding static pages is my job, and one I've already started. Coming soon to a valeriecomer.com near you!
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Social Media
Are the social media sites only for people with too much time on their hands? No, I don't think so, though they can certainly serve as a major time-sink. Why do people blog? Why have a profile on Facebook? Why on Twitter? Why on other sites (that I know less about)?
I've been blogging for upwards of almost four years on Blogger and had a blog on a private site for most of a year before that (got killed by spam). I've talked about all kinds of random things--farm, family, pets, camping, books, and my own writing. Being as not a lot of you comment, I'm not sure why you keep coming back, which of these areas interests you in my life.
I joined Facebook last fall (November?) on the advice of my kids. At first it was merely a way to share photos and *communicate lite* with them, especially when Joel and Jen headed to South America for several months. Then I discovered a lot of my writer friends there (some published, some not), and more recently, my high school class has been reconvening on FB. Great fun.
When I first heard of Twitter, I couldn't figure out why anyone would use it. But Holly Lisle is doing a huge giveaway over two weeks to folks who follow her on Twitter, so of course I had to sign up to see what all the twitter was about!
A couple weeks ago I read this blog post by Michael Hyatt, president and CEO of Thomas Nelson, a major Christian publishing house.
He talks about how quickly word travels in this digital age and believes that everyone who has a *brand to defend* needs to make sure they know what is being said online about their brand. He gives a list of seven ways to keep track, and here's his first one:
I'm guessing that a lot of my reader here are not CEOs (grin), but it seems his advice might still be valid. Build an audience before you need it. Why should I not find my old friends and make new contacts now, before I have something to sell them? Wouldn't you rather hear from someone you lost contact with now, while they are on their journey to publishing? We once had an old friend look us up that we hadn't seen in probably 12 years and within half an hour he was trying to involve us in his marketing scheme. It seemed that was the only reason we'd been rediscovered. When we didn't jump in, the contact drifted away.
Seriously, I care about people. I genuinely like my friends. I try to be true to myself online, and try to be very aware of everything I say. The world wide web holds information over our heads forever, and I don't want something I said to come back and bite me. Yes, I hope that one day my novels will sell, and I truly hope no one ever thinks I've befriended them just to make a sale. It's the people I care about...and sales will be nice, someday. If people want to buy my stuff.
On the advice of Randy Ingermanson, I plan to move my blog over to my website sometime within the next few months, as my daughter has time to finish redesigning the entire thing. I do have the website somewhat updated this week, though.
If you're a writer and you're not currently following Holly Lisle on her blog, in her classes, or on Twitter, I highly recommend that you do so. She's a multi-published author with a lot of material available on how to write. She's opened her writing class How to Think Sideways to new members this week. Go have a look! And if you follow her on Twitter, you might WIN a scholarship to this class. FOR SURE you will qualify for one of her e-clinics on Monday. Don't delay! Follow her on Twitter today! And you can follow me by clicking the link in my sidebar. Or look me up on FB.
I've been blogging for upwards of almost four years on Blogger and had a blog on a private site for most of a year before that (got killed by spam). I've talked about all kinds of random things--farm, family, pets, camping, books, and my own writing. Being as not a lot of you comment, I'm not sure why you keep coming back, which of these areas interests you in my life.
I joined Facebook last fall (November?) on the advice of my kids. At first it was merely a way to share photos and *communicate lite* with them, especially when Joel and Jen headed to South America for several months. Then I discovered a lot of my writer friends there (some published, some not), and more recently, my high school class has been reconvening on FB. Great fun.
When I first heard of Twitter, I couldn't figure out why anyone would use it. But Holly Lisle is doing a huge giveaway over two weeks to folks who follow her on Twitter, so of course I had to sign up to see what all the twitter was about!
A couple weeks ago I read this blog post by Michael Hyatt, president and CEO of Thomas Nelson, a major Christian publishing house.
He talks about how quickly word travels in this digital age and believes that everyone who has a *brand to defend* needs to make sure they know what is being said online about their brand. He gives a list of seven ways to keep track, and here's his first one:
Build an online presence. The time to build an audience is before you need it. You need people for whom you add value, a small army of followers, if you will, who can help you when you need it. This is why every CEO, brand manager, and department leader should create a blog, a Facebook page, and get active on Twitter.
It’s really not that difficult, even for the technically challenged. If you really don’t have a clue, enlist the help of a co-worker—or perhaps even your children!
If I had to select one place to start, I would pick Twitter. Then I would create a Facebook page. Finally, I would start a blog. I don’t think there’s a less expensive way to create brand equity than by using these three tools.
I'm guessing that a lot of my reader here are not CEOs (grin), but it seems his advice might still be valid. Build an audience before you need it. Why should I not find my old friends and make new contacts now, before I have something to sell them? Wouldn't you rather hear from someone you lost contact with now, while they are on their journey to publishing? We once had an old friend look us up that we hadn't seen in probably 12 years and within half an hour he was trying to involve us in his marketing scheme. It seemed that was the only reason we'd been rediscovered. When we didn't jump in, the contact drifted away.
Seriously, I care about people. I genuinely like my friends. I try to be true to myself online, and try to be very aware of everything I say. The world wide web holds information over our heads forever, and I don't want something I said to come back and bite me. Yes, I hope that one day my novels will sell, and I truly hope no one ever thinks I've befriended them just to make a sale. It's the people I care about...and sales will be nice, someday. If people want to buy my stuff.
On the advice of Randy Ingermanson, I plan to move my blog over to my website sometime within the next few months, as my daughter has time to finish redesigning the entire thing. I do have the website somewhat updated this week, though.
If you're a writer and you're not currently following Holly Lisle on her blog, in her classes, or on Twitter, I highly recommend that you do so. She's a multi-published author with a lot of material available on how to write. She's opened her writing class How to Think Sideways to new members this week. Go have a look! And if you follow her on Twitter, you might WIN a scholarship to this class. FOR SURE you will qualify for one of her e-clinics on Monday. Don't delay! Follow her on Twitter today! And you can follow me by clicking the link in my sidebar. Or look me up on FB.
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Tempest clears 40K
Although I've got a lot on the go these days, I'm managing at least an hour on Tempest most mornings. Today I crossed the 40K milestone, and I should reach the official halfway point of my current outline later this week. The outline keeps growing, though! That's good, I believe. The two scenes I've written this week weren't in the outline even last week; they came considerably after I did the massive rebuild of the outline a couple weeks back. I was staring at the notecards--have I mentioned recently how much I love Scrivener?--and realized I hadn't shown a major mental turning point for the main character.
Duh.
Today I also broke and fixed my website while I was updating it. I needed to add Tempest to the *projects* section as well as add the Genesis finals for Majai's Fury and Off Beat (previously known as Marks of Repentance and The Girl Who Cried Squid).
And while I wandered the net looking for agents to submit Majai's Fury to, I discovered a contest at Agent Kelly Mortimer's blog. Then I needed to find something to submit--something that was not fantasy! So I got an entry off today (not mentioning the project here as the entries are to remain anonymous through some complicated method, but you've met it before!)
Duh.
Today I also broke and fixed my website while I was updating it. I needed to add Tempest to the *projects* section as well as add the Genesis finals for Majai's Fury and Off Beat (previously known as Marks of Repentance and The Girl Who Cried Squid).
And while I wandered the net looking for agents to submit Majai's Fury to, I discovered a contest at Agent Kelly Mortimer's blog. Then I needed to find something to submit--something that was not fantasy! So I got an entry off today (not mentioning the project here as the entries are to remain anonymous through some complicated method, but you've met it before!)
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Revised layout--finally!
I'm sure you all were wondering when winter was going to leave my blog! At first it was inability to log onto HasWeb, then it was lack of time, then it was lack of time to figure out how to work the photoshop on the Mac. I know Hanna's going to complain that the header is still over-running the edge. I fixed it. Then it did it again. When I don't have a headache, I'll work on it again!
She took this picture of me in Victoria about five weeks ago.
She took this picture of me in Victoria about five weeks ago.
Monday, June 09, 2008
Scrivener
If you're writing on a Mac, hie thee over to download the trial version of Scrivener. Seriously. There's a decent video there to show you why you need it.
Here's why *I* needed it! I often plot/ outline with physical 3x5 notecards, but I have issues with them. I like color-coding things, but committing to writing plot points on a green card is difficult. Green cards belong to the MC. What if I later I decide to write the scene from another character's POV? Then it should have been on a yellow card! Or even a pink card. You can imagine the dilemmas this causes. Seriously. I've sat and stared at the cards, afraid to commit.
Okay, so that's silly. I can just use white ones, and once I for sure decide whose scene it is, I can run a highlighter across the header to match the character. That helps, but I still lack space to spread them out at work.
And then there is the issue of what to do with the random bits of information that I'm not sure what scene it's going to belong in. I see a setting, but what will happen there? So really, I need to know quite a lot about the story before I pull out the notecards. And then...I may as well go straight to Word or Excel, eh?
Only the cells in Excel really aren't big enough for all the information I might want to have in them--notes for each scene. And sometimes they're a pain to rearrange. I've lost stuff doing that.
Back to Word. There each scene takes as much space as it needs. I can list the POV character, the setting, etc no problem. But there still is that random stuff that might become a scene if it found the right other information to collide with.
And with the matchmaker, I've gone round and round in Word and Excel and was pulling out the notecards a couple days ago (in desperation!) when I remembered that I now have a MacBook.
You'd think I couldn't forget such a thing. I've overcome much of the learning curve and am no longer panicking every five minutes that I don't know how to DO whatever it is I'm trying to do. (That's now reserved for like once a day!) But with the remembrance that I now use a Mac, I remembered that Holly Lisle uses Scrivener. (Ha. You thought I'd never get to the point.)
So I asked around a bit and then downloaded the trial version this morning. By the time I'd gone through the tutorial I had a bit of a headache. So much information! But then it was lunch break and I went for a long walk, came back, and decided it was time to see what would happen when Matchmaker met Scrivener.
I think they're in love.
First, importing files from Word is easy-peasy. (And they're still there in Word, too, should I need them in that application.) Scrivener arranged things fairly intuitively. I only moved a few things to new locations, and it was easy to do. So on the left of the screen, it's like an organizational tree program. There's tons out there, several of which I've used from time to time and quite liked. But this does more.
It has a virtual corkboard with 3x5 notecards! :D And because I am not actually wasting notecards by changing my mind later what color I want them (lame, I know...), I can randomly type whatever I want on a given card, and change it later.
Each card has three *levels*. There's a title, which shows in the tree down the left side. Then on the actual card itself, below the title, is enough room to write a decent synopsis of the scene (about the same amount as on a physical card). BUT, for all the little details, you can add them basically behind the cut. All of these can be color-coded and rearranged to my heart's content.
Which is cool. At the moment, I'm resisting the urge to title the cards in my outline section of the file, though of course I've labeled them in the character section. I'll save the title slot for numbers when I have them the way I want them. But one synopsis section simply says *picnic*. Because I think one scene will take place on a picnic. But I have no idea what will happen there that is significant, and I don't know if it will be early in the story or late. But for now, I have a card for picnic. Later, hopefully, one of the other cards with some other random word will decide it wants to hang out with the picnic card, and I'll combine them. Eventually, I hope, I'll have 80-90 cards with actual scene synopses on them.
The few cards that I know for sure belong to the beginning of the story--ones where characters meet each other, I've tinted light aqua. I've reserved pale yellow for middle scenes and pink for climax/ending scenes, but I haven't used any of those yet.
A person can easily write the entire novel in Scrivener. (Exporting back to Word is just as easy as importing, for the final formatting and such.) I think it would be especially cool for folks who write scenes out of order, because you can rearrange all the scenes simply by moving their cards around. So far I've always written linear, but this setup loosens the cells in my brain a little and makes it okay to play. I don't know if I will, though!
So, after one day, I'm really excited about some of the odds and ends that are stuck to my virtual corkboard and how I might arrange them and add to them. I've still got quite a ways to go to have a full and complete plot, but it's really looking positive at the moment!
Here's why *I* needed it! I often plot/ outline with physical 3x5 notecards, but I have issues with them. I like color-coding things, but committing to writing plot points on a green card is difficult. Green cards belong to the MC. What if I later I decide to write the scene from another character's POV? Then it should have been on a yellow card! Or even a pink card. You can imagine the dilemmas this causes. Seriously. I've sat and stared at the cards, afraid to commit.
Okay, so that's silly. I can just use white ones, and once I for sure decide whose scene it is, I can run a highlighter across the header to match the character. That helps, but I still lack space to spread them out at work.
And then there is the issue of what to do with the random bits of information that I'm not sure what scene it's going to belong in. I see a setting, but what will happen there? So really, I need to know quite a lot about the story before I pull out the notecards. And then...I may as well go straight to Word or Excel, eh?
Only the cells in Excel really aren't big enough for all the information I might want to have in them--notes for each scene. And sometimes they're a pain to rearrange. I've lost stuff doing that.
Back to Word. There each scene takes as much space as it needs. I can list the POV character, the setting, etc no problem. But there still is that random stuff that might become a scene if it found the right other information to collide with.
And with the matchmaker, I've gone round and round in Word and Excel and was pulling out the notecards a couple days ago (in desperation!) when I remembered that I now have a MacBook.
You'd think I couldn't forget such a thing. I've overcome much of the learning curve and am no longer panicking every five minutes that I don't know how to DO whatever it is I'm trying to do. (That's now reserved for like once a day!) But with the remembrance that I now use a Mac, I remembered that Holly Lisle uses Scrivener. (Ha. You thought I'd never get to the point.)
So I asked around a bit and then downloaded the trial version this morning. By the time I'd gone through the tutorial I had a bit of a headache. So much information! But then it was lunch break and I went for a long walk, came back, and decided it was time to see what would happen when Matchmaker met Scrivener.
I think they're in love.
First, importing files from Word is easy-peasy. (And they're still there in Word, too, should I need them in that application.) Scrivener arranged things fairly intuitively. I only moved a few things to new locations, and it was easy to do. So on the left of the screen, it's like an organizational tree program. There's tons out there, several of which I've used from time to time and quite liked. But this does more.
It has a virtual corkboard with 3x5 notecards! :D And because I am not actually wasting notecards by changing my mind later what color I want them (lame, I know...), I can randomly type whatever I want on a given card, and change it later.
Each card has three *levels*. There's a title, which shows in the tree down the left side. Then on the actual card itself, below the title, is enough room to write a decent synopsis of the scene (about the same amount as on a physical card). BUT, for all the little details, you can add them basically behind the cut. All of these can be color-coded and rearranged to my heart's content.
Which is cool. At the moment, I'm resisting the urge to title the cards in my outline section of the file, though of course I've labeled them in the character section. I'll save the title slot for numbers when I have them the way I want them. But one synopsis section simply says *picnic*. Because I think one scene will take place on a picnic. But I have no idea what will happen there that is significant, and I don't know if it will be early in the story or late. But for now, I have a card for picnic. Later, hopefully, one of the other cards with some other random word will decide it wants to hang out with the picnic card, and I'll combine them. Eventually, I hope, I'll have 80-90 cards with actual scene synopses on them.
The few cards that I know for sure belong to the beginning of the story--ones where characters meet each other, I've tinted light aqua. I've reserved pale yellow for middle scenes and pink for climax/ending scenes, but I haven't used any of those yet.
A person can easily write the entire novel in Scrivener. (Exporting back to Word is just as easy as importing, for the final formatting and such.) I think it would be especially cool for folks who write scenes out of order, because you can rearrange all the scenes simply by moving their cards around. So far I've always written linear, but this setup loosens the cells in my brain a little and makes it okay to play. I don't know if I will, though!
So, after one day, I'm really excited about some of the odds and ends that are stuck to my virtual corkboard and how I might arrange them and add to them. I've still got quite a ways to go to have a full and complete plot, but it's really looking positive at the moment!
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Busy Days
It seems I should have more to say here. We've been keeping really busy. In fact, yesterday (Wednesday) was our only low key day thus far. It was Jen's first day of her summer co-op job, and Hanna and I did some laundry and cleaning, watched a movie, and dropped the car off to the VW dealership to get repaired.
Tuesday the girls and I went to Saltspring Island. That required a 45 minute bus ride to the ferry landing, then a 35 minute ferry ride. Once on the island, it was another half hour by bus to the main town where we hung out for about four hours (lots of walking! That day tallied up to 7.9 miles) before setting off on the return journey. Saltspring is a place of arts, crafts, and organics, and one of the main reasons we went was to buy organic heritage vegetable seeds. Sadly the rack was well picked over and we didn't come away with as many varieties as we'd hoped. Still, we plan to try some of these in the garden this summer.
The girls did a lot of shopping earlier in the week--clothes, fabrics, etc. It's been fun traipsing around with them, even while I am definitely not attracted to the same styles as they are!
Today looks like rain, and I think Hanna and I will be picking up the car after a bit, then wandering out to do some shopping ('cause we like need more stuff). Well, I guess we're in need of a bit of groceries at least. There are a few other things we'd been meaning to see/ do while here also. Tomorrow we are planning to see Butchart Gardens (supposed to be mostly sunny tomorrow). And then Saturday our hubbies arrive :) That will be nice.
Anyway, much randomness here. I'm still learning to use this machine and the thought of re-figuring out how to load up photos is a bit daunting. Guess I'd better get that firm in my head while we're still here, though, and Joel can walk me through it yet again. I have a fair investment now in saying *I can do this*!
Tuesday the girls and I went to Saltspring Island. That required a 45 minute bus ride to the ferry landing, then a 35 minute ferry ride. Once on the island, it was another half hour by bus to the main town where we hung out for about four hours (lots of walking! That day tallied up to 7.9 miles) before setting off on the return journey. Saltspring is a place of arts, crafts, and organics, and one of the main reasons we went was to buy organic heritage vegetable seeds. Sadly the rack was well picked over and we didn't come away with as many varieties as we'd hoped. Still, we plan to try some of these in the garden this summer.
The girls did a lot of shopping earlier in the week--clothes, fabrics, etc. It's been fun traipsing around with them, even while I am definitely not attracted to the same styles as they are!
Today looks like rain, and I think Hanna and I will be picking up the car after a bit, then wandering out to do some shopping ('cause we like need more stuff). Well, I guess we're in need of a bit of groceries at least. There are a few other things we'd been meaning to see/ do while here also. Tomorrow we are planning to see Butchart Gardens (supposed to be mostly sunny tomorrow). And then Saturday our hubbies arrive :) That will be nice.
Anyway, much randomness here. I'm still learning to use this machine and the thought of re-figuring out how to load up photos is a bit daunting. Guess I'd better get that firm in my head while we're still here, though, and Joel can walk me through it yet again. I have a fair investment now in saying *I can do this*!
Monday, May 05, 2008
Greetings from Victoria :)
So here I am, writing to you all from my brand new (happy) MacBook! :) Ah....here's hoping for a long, content relationship.
Friday we started out on the road beforae six am, me and my girls. The road trip was going along nicely, let the (sedated) kitty out for a walk at Osoyoos. She wasn't all that impressed with harness, leash, or the walk.
It was very pretty along the lakeshore there, though!
The trip become much more interesting after that. We heard a funny sound, like tearing rubber, maybe, shortly after Osoyoos. We pulled over but couldn't see anything wrong (we were thinking tires), so assumed we'd run over a stick or something that got tangled for a sec before being flung off. We went merrily on for another three hours. Jen was driving up the last summit (Hope Princeton) when she mentioned seeing a flashing light on the dash. I got her to pull over and leave the car running for a few minutes to cool down while I dug out the car manual to double-check what was wrong. Indeed, coolant light, which I had met before last year or so. We popped the hood. Yes, could see the coolant container low. Popped the trunk, yes, we had a jug of coolant. (Thanks, hon!)
The three of us stood by the car with the manual out making sure we were doing the right thing when a semi pulled over in front of us and a guy in a pickup did a u-ey and came back to see if he could help. The coolant issue was relatively quickly solved, but one of the guys noticed that we had belt problems. One belt (I'm forgetting the names here--water pump, I think) had come right off, and the alternator belt had torn--we were missing almost half of it (must've been that rubbery sound by Osoyoos! Oops...) The one guy went digging in my toolbox, then in his, came up with the tools to put the dislodged belt back in place and tightened it back up. The other belt was deemed *good enough* to get us the rest of the way down off the mountain and into the town of Hope. We took it easy and made it down.
Once there we were finally back in cell service and I called hubby to report our adventures and ask for advice. Should we try to have the parts replaced in Hope or did he think we were safe to carry on. He figured we were okay if we took it easy. So we started out on the last couple hours of the drive to the ferry landing. I must say taking it easy on the freeway is almost the same thing as a death wish. Some of those semis swerved around us with inches to spare. Nasty stuff.
Made the 7:00 ferry and on into Victoria in the evening. The car made it! Yay!
The next day I lost power steering while driving but made it back to the house alright. There it sits until further instructions from hubby, who will call Victoria Volkswagen and see if they can fix it this week. Otherwise he *gets* to fix it when he flies in on Saturday.
More adventures have followed those, but none so traumatic. More later!!
Friday we started out on the road beforae six am, me and my girls. The road trip was going along nicely, let the (sedated) kitty out for a walk at Osoyoos. She wasn't all that impressed with harness, leash, or the walk.
It was very pretty along the lakeshore there, though!
The trip become much more interesting after that. We heard a funny sound, like tearing rubber, maybe, shortly after Osoyoos. We pulled over but couldn't see anything wrong (we were thinking tires), so assumed we'd run over a stick or something that got tangled for a sec before being flung off. We went merrily on for another three hours. Jen was driving up the last summit (Hope Princeton) when she mentioned seeing a flashing light on the dash. I got her to pull over and leave the car running for a few minutes to cool down while I dug out the car manual to double-check what was wrong. Indeed, coolant light, which I had met before last year or so. We popped the hood. Yes, could see the coolant container low. Popped the trunk, yes, we had a jug of coolant. (Thanks, hon!)
The three of us stood by the car with the manual out making sure we were doing the right thing when a semi pulled over in front of us and a guy in a pickup did a u-ey and came back to see if he could help. The coolant issue was relatively quickly solved, but one of the guys noticed that we had belt problems. One belt (I'm forgetting the names here--water pump, I think) had come right off, and the alternator belt had torn--we were missing almost half of it (must've been that rubbery sound by Osoyoos! Oops...) The one guy went digging in my toolbox, then in his, came up with the tools to put the dislodged belt back in place and tightened it back up. The other belt was deemed *good enough* to get us the rest of the way down off the mountain and into the town of Hope. We took it easy and made it down.
Once there we were finally back in cell service and I called hubby to report our adventures and ask for advice. Should we try to have the parts replaced in Hope or did he think we were safe to carry on. He figured we were okay if we took it easy. So we started out on the last couple hours of the drive to the ferry landing. I must say taking it easy on the freeway is almost the same thing as a death wish. Some of those semis swerved around us with inches to spare. Nasty stuff.
Made the 7:00 ferry and on into Victoria in the evening. The car made it! Yay!
The next day I lost power steering while driving but made it back to the house alright. There it sits until further instructions from hubby, who will call Victoria Volkswagen and see if they can fix it this week. Otherwise he *gets* to fix it when he flies in on Saturday.
More adventures have followed those, but none so traumatic. More later!!
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Laptop Love
Being as hubby's rotation had him away at work all weekend and I hadn't been feeling the greatest lately, I sweet-talked him into leaving the laptop home for me. I mean, I know I have two desktop computers (one at work and one at home) and of course the adorable Palm Tungsten E2 but none of those are a laptop. And I envisioned comfy hours in my recliner with heat on my back, surfing the internet and working away all weekend.
Still, all sitting is bad--even in the world's greatest recliner. So I brought the timer over and set it for 45 minutes...and began critting a novel for Mar. When the timer went off, I re-set it for 15 minutes and went off to do some housework.
The second set I spent working on my synopsis of Marks of Repentance. The first market I'm looking at wants a synopsis of 1-3 pages and mine is currently 2, so that at least is a help. What is hard for me to tell is if it is clear, so it's going out to a few folk who aren't familiar with the novel and then I'll see where I've confuzelated things. (Great word, huh?) And then 15 minutes of housework.
Third set I spent at the desk-top computer working on my family calendar that I take on every year. This is the ninth annual coming up! It's not at crunch point yet--still waiting for some photos to come in from family, but I was pleased with what I got done even so. And 15 minutes of housework.
Then I went back to the synopsis. And housework. And critting. And housework.
By then it was late afternoon and I decided I'd had enough productivity. So I went on to other things, like cooking up a LOT of dry beans and making a mega-pot of soup. Canned some of the beans and saved the rest for today, when I also canned up the soup. Yes, I'm crazy.
The beauty of the laptop came into play again, because with the wireless now set up on the broadband, I could leave the laptop open on the peninsula (well away from stove and sink) and work on things while the canner canned. So I worked through a few more chapters of crit. And now I'm blogging from the recliner again! Gotta love it.
When one of my desktop computers dies, I'll replace with a laptop and the remaining desktop will live at home. I think I still want to have at least one desktop though.
Spoiled? Perhaps. Three computers (and two Palms) might seem like over-kill for two people. The same two people have only two vehicles--one, if you count the fact that the truck has been out of commission for a couple of weeks. It's supposed to be home, (almost) as good as new tomorrow. I hope. I'm ready for my own wheels again too.
It's been a lovely weekend.
Still, all sitting is bad--even in the world's greatest recliner. So I brought the timer over and set it for 45 minutes...and began critting a novel for Mar. When the timer went off, I re-set it for 15 minutes and went off to do some housework.
The second set I spent working on my synopsis of Marks of Repentance. The first market I'm looking at wants a synopsis of 1-3 pages and mine is currently 2, so that at least is a help. What is hard for me to tell is if it is clear, so it's going out to a few folk who aren't familiar with the novel and then I'll see where I've confuzelated things. (Great word, huh?) And then 15 minutes of housework.
Third set I spent at the desk-top computer working on my family calendar that I take on every year. This is the ninth annual coming up! It's not at crunch point yet--still waiting for some photos to come in from family, but I was pleased with what I got done even so. And 15 minutes of housework.
Then I went back to the synopsis. And housework. And critting. And housework.
By then it was late afternoon and I decided I'd had enough productivity. So I went on to other things, like cooking up a LOT of dry beans and making a mega-pot of soup. Canned some of the beans and saved the rest for today, when I also canned up the soup. Yes, I'm crazy.
The beauty of the laptop came into play again, because with the wireless now set up on the broadband, I could leave the laptop open on the peninsula (well away from stove and sink) and work on things while the canner canned. So I worked through a few more chapters of crit. And now I'm blogging from the recliner again! Gotta love it.
When one of my desktop computers dies, I'll replace with a laptop and the remaining desktop will live at home. I think I still want to have at least one desktop though.
Spoiled? Perhaps. Three computers (and two Palms) might seem like over-kill for two people. The same two people have only two vehicles--one, if you count the fact that the truck has been out of commission for a couple of weeks. It's supposed to be home, (almost) as good as new tomorrow. I hope. I'm ready for my own wheels again too.
It's been a lovely weekend.
Monday, October 15, 2007
97K and change
As you can see, Blogger decided to be nice to me this evening and allow me to change up the rest of the layout. Here we are till the snow flies.
Revising went well again today. Sometimes it is amazing to find out that I planted seeds for certain thread tie-offs way back in the story and didn't even notice that they were there. The power of the sub-conscious at work, I guess. Today I was mulling over that last sub-plot that I didn't really know how to end when I realized that the answers were already there in the text. They just needed a bit of tweaking. Back and forth I went over the past eight chapters or so seeking the right spots to change just one sentence here and there. So I'm pleased with that and feeling really positive with how the ending is pulling together. I'm smack in the midst of the climatic scene right now.
Thank God--truly--for good critiquers who aren't afraid to tell me when things aren't working.
I read somewhere again recently that the denouement--the wrap-up scene--needs to directly answer the questions that were set-up in the first scene. So as I'm within reach of that last scene, I'm thinking back to the beginning (and the comments from the contest judges) and believe I've found the best opening scene to deliver a bit more punch. So being *finished* won't mean finished at all. I think I'll have to flip the novel back to the beginning and start again at that end. Hopefully the stuff in the middle will be solid enough to ignore now though!
I really want to start revising a different story soon. Like Quest to be Queen. I'm in the mood for a light-hearted romp through spoofiness about now. But first I have to have Marks kicked out of the nest. Really. Must stay focused. It's soooo close.
Revising went well again today. Sometimes it is amazing to find out that I planted seeds for certain thread tie-offs way back in the story and didn't even notice that they were there. The power of the sub-conscious at work, I guess. Today I was mulling over that last sub-plot that I didn't really know how to end when I realized that the answers were already there in the text. They just needed a bit of tweaking. Back and forth I went over the past eight chapters or so seeking the right spots to change just one sentence here and there. So I'm pleased with that and feeling really positive with how the ending is pulling together. I'm smack in the midst of the climatic scene right now.
Thank God--truly--for good critiquers who aren't afraid to tell me when things aren't working.
I read somewhere again recently that the denouement--the wrap-up scene--needs to directly answer the questions that were set-up in the first scene. So as I'm within reach of that last scene, I'm thinking back to the beginning (and the comments from the contest judges) and believe I've found the best opening scene to deliver a bit more punch. So being *finished* won't mean finished at all. I think I'll have to flip the novel back to the beginning and start again at that end. Hopefully the stuff in the middle will be solid enough to ignore now though!
I really want to start revising a different story soon. Like Quest to be Queen. I'm in the mood for a light-hearted romp through spoofiness about now. But first I have to have Marks kicked out of the nest. Really. Must stay focused. It's soooo close.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Bleh
Blogger hates me. What else is new? I had the whole new layout ready and it just refuses to load up. All but the pretty picture. That's it, I give up for tonight!
Monday, October 01, 2007
Broadband!
You no longer need to call on me when you want a page checked out for loading speed on dial-up! FINALLY we have joined the twenty-first century and the great revolution called BroadBand internet. Most incredible. Makes the cable at work look slow. But I don't think I'll start complaining about that just yet.
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Forward Motion and Jatol
Our new host tried three times yesterday to pull our forum files from Jatol over, and finally the third time worked. We run old forum software and there were some bugs. A bunch of us have spent the morning debugging the test files and now *whoever* it is has pulled the plug on the Jatol site. We have everything we need, it's just a matter of time until Mar plugs the fixes that she made into the new setup. Once it is up and running, I'll post here again, but still remember that it may take a few days for your server to redirect to the new address.
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Distracted
I've gotten about another 2K done on Marks of Repentance today, around customers and watching the soap opera unfold over a major server, Jatol, apparently sinking without a trace. Okay, there have been a few bubbles from under the sea. Forward Motion Writers Community has been hosted by Jatol for several years, but don't bother clicking the link for a day or two because the site won't come up. Thankfully for us at FM, Jatol had several servers and we were NOT on the first to go. Those first guys had no warning. Just all of a sudden their sites no longer existed. Holly Lisle got her site moved off of Jatol ASAP yesterday, while she still had access to her control panel. FM is a little slower to move, being as it is huge, but it is currently in the process of relocating. And Mar has the entire site backed up on her kids' computer at home, just in case, and is helping guide the move to a new host. Sounds like she's quite fond of her new control panel already!
If anyone actually NEEDS information about Jatol and what is going on, there's a most fascinating thread here which is currently on its 16th page, so be warned.
Either way, FM will be up and running again within a day or two at most, though it may take a little while for your ISP to find the new location. Think of it as your snail mail still going to your old address after you've moved; it takes a bit of time for everyone to know your new address right off the top.
If anyone actually NEEDS information about Jatol and what is going on, there's a most fascinating thread here which is currently on its 16th page, so be warned.
Either way, FM will be up and running again within a day or two at most, though it may take a little while for your ISP to find the new location. Think of it as your snail mail still going to your old address after you've moved; it takes a bit of time for everyone to know your new address right off the top.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Okay, REALLY done now.
I just *thought* I was done upgrading the other day. **shakes head** But I hadn't done THIS blog. Silly me. Anyway, here is today's version. I kinda like it. I might keep it for awhile. No, I have no definition for *awhile*. :P
The instructions for the calendar widget I found here. They actually work! **boggles** It's so easy even YOU can do it. Trust me on that.
It took me longer to figure out how to get the CFBA blog roll on the side bar. Add new page element, html/ java script. Yeah, sure, I can do that.
Now to go widget hunting for more cool stuff. Any ideas? :D
Back with more: If you have a Flickr account, click on my Flickr widget and the directions for creating your own are right there.
And I bet Hanna would like the Label Cloud Widget! But I don't think I want one. Must contemplate.
Oh look: a weather widget!
WooHoo!!!!
The instructions for the calendar widget I found here. They actually work! **boggles** It's so easy even YOU can do it. Trust me on that.
It took me longer to figure out how to get the CFBA blog roll on the side bar. Add new page element, html/ java script. Yeah, sure, I can do that.
Now to go widget hunting for more cool stuff. Any ideas? :D
Back with more: If you have a Flickr account, click on my Flickr widget and the directions for creating your own are right there.
And I bet Hanna would like the Label Cloud Widget! But I don't think I want one. Must contemplate.
Oh look: a weather widget!
WooHoo!!!!
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Blogger Update
While I switched to New Blogger a few months ago, I couldn't quite see how to keep my photo headers current in the new format. So I'd only half switched over, I guess. Yesterday I spent awhile mucking around with the layouts and while I'm still not thrilled with all the options, I did figure out the photo thing so I completed the switch.
Yes, I know the daisy is blurry. I have to admit I like the artistic blurriness of it! Should be a bit easier to update things now, though. Maybe I'll have a layout for every month of the year! (I love redecorating...)
Yes, I know the daisy is blurry. I have to admit I like the artistic blurriness of it! Should be a bit easier to update things now, though. Maybe I'll have a layout for every month of the year! (I love redecorating...)
Saturday, January 06, 2007
Yelling Solves Nothing
The moral of the story is: Val should not be TRUSTED with technology. A lot of power--or even a little power--in the wrong hands is a frightening thing. Really.
How frightening?
You asked.
Remember the lovely Palm Tungsten E2 hubby gave me for Christmas? I didn't play with it much for a few days after Christmas. I could see it was going to be something that required a quiet house and some concentration to figure out. Serendipitous thought, that.
After my house emptied out on the 28th, with great care and slow, well-thought-out steps--and much reading of .pdf files--I got the baby charged up, the cds loaded onto the desktop, and performed my first synchronization. How beautiful. How lovely. I did notice that Microsoft Outlook was uploaded, and I did notice that I hadn't been using the program to its fullest. I was only using it for email addresses for our family contacts, but that wouldn't be much help in the long run. I envisioned having all the phone numbers, including cells, of everyone I knew on it, street addresses of distant friends and relatives, so that when we should be traveling I would have all this pertinent information at my fingertips. Ah yes. Visions of glory and well-organizedness. (Yes, that's a word; don't argue with me.) I began recording all this information, gathered from various sources, into Outlook.
Meanwhile, I went back to work on the 3rd. My *other* vision was accessing story outlines, character profiles, random notes, etc, from either my work computer or my home computer via the pda. It should be a simple matter, I thought. The pda would operate as a glorified flash drive.
Uh. Huh.
I installed the cds and hooked up the pda. Something went wrong; I wasn't sure what. It wouldn't let me open the profile or do anything on the second computer. A few days later when I was showing off the pda to somebody, I realized that I had no contact information. Odd.
Today (at home again) I determined to get to the bottom of things, learn more about how the thing works, since it was obvious I didn't quite have a handle on it yet. Little did I know how little a handle I really had. I struggled to synch it back to this computer and got continuous errors. Finally, with some help from Mar, I managed a hard re-set (there was nothing that dramatic ON the machine yet, nothing irreplaceable).
When there was finally a successful synchronization, I was interested to note that I still had no contact information. This very brilliant technologically gifted whiz had synched Outlook backwards, effectively deleting all the data not only from the handheld but from the home computer. I have NO database of my personal contacts. Anyone reading this, no doubt you're my imaginary friends. No doubt your info is safe in my yahoo address book. But for the flesh-and-blood folk I know, well...
I have a hardcopy backup from August '04, which isn't particularly recent. Honestly, most of the information won't be that hard to get again. Some of them I have memorized, others I have noted elsewhere. Others still I have phone numbers and snail mail addies for in my little address book. For the most part, this is just a nuisance. There are a very few, though, that I may have lost permanently. Those are likely ones I don't keep in good contact with to start with, and may not even remember they were once in my database. And that makes me sad.
And yes, I'm more than a little aggravated, too.
Now I discover that the Palm isn't really designed to work with multiple computers but that it can be done. If you or anyone you know has the same model I do, a Palm Tungsten E2, and have successfully set it up to operate on more than one machine (not networked machines), I'd really be glad to hear from you. Email me at valerierco AT yahoo DOT ca. Put something in the header so I know it isn't spam, please, if I don't already have your addy.
Oh, while I'm ranting, here's a related rant. As I've been mumbling about, the Palm is set to synch to Outlook. Then why does the Palm cd come with something called Palm Desktop? It has many of the same features--a contact list, a calendar, a task memo pad thingie--but the Palm Desktop is not even on the list of things to synch with in the custom setup (yes, I know where that is now!). So why would I use it?
So now that my Outlook is empty and the corners are all dusted out, I'm thinking, surely there is some way to transfer these files. So I've entered one address in Outlook and a different one into Palm Desktop. Then I spent a couple hours trying to figure out which direction would be easier to import/export these files.
I have a headache.
They have different file extensions. Fair enough. Outlook has a custom setting that I found after awhile that allows you to save a file in VCard format (for the Palm). Cool. So I do that. I'm hopeful that means it will add itself to the VCard homeland. Hahaha. I am the eternal optimist, and it is rarely well-founded. Today...definitely not well-founded. How do I find the VCard homeland in order to find the path to browse? I eventually find where Outlook has stored this lonely file, and I note the path. But when I do the process in reverse, to import it, the same folders do not exist. Honest. Cross my heart and hope to die; they are not in there.
So...I can save the Palm Desktop contact files in Excel format. Excellent. I not only know how to do that, but I can find the darn things later. And very excited to find that Outlook can import Excel files.
Oops.
Only if you have all the custom stuff downloaded off the Windows XP disk. I got out the disk, popped it in the drive, looked at the menu, and got cold feet.
With today's run of luck, I am not risking wiping WinXP off my computer as well. I'm sure I could do it. I am THAT talented.
Hubby's on his way home this evening. He phones from his cell phone. "So, how's your day been?"
Me: "Uh, okay."
Him: "Whatcha been doing?"
Me (thinking 'do I really want to go there over the phone?'): "Cleaned the house, did some laundry, went for a walk. Been working on the computer."
Him: "So, you getting things figured out on the Palm?"
Me (drat): "Um, you are sitting down, aren't you?" (Of course he's sitting down, idiot, he's DRIVING!!!!)
Do let us give credit where credit is due. Upon learning what I had done, he didn't yell or anything. Which was nice of him, because I was feeling like I deserved to be yelled at. Of course, I've been doing the yelling already. And really, what's the point? What's done is done. Yelling solves nothing.
That's today's mantra. Yelling solves nothing. But sometimes it feels good.
How frightening?
You asked.
Remember the lovely Palm Tungsten E2 hubby gave me for Christmas? I didn't play with it much for a few days after Christmas. I could see it was going to be something that required a quiet house and some concentration to figure out. Serendipitous thought, that.
After my house emptied out on the 28th, with great care and slow, well-thought-out steps--and much reading of .pdf files--I got the baby charged up, the cds loaded onto the desktop, and performed my first synchronization. How beautiful. How lovely. I did notice that Microsoft Outlook was uploaded, and I did notice that I hadn't been using the program to its fullest. I was only using it for email addresses for our family contacts, but that wouldn't be much help in the long run. I envisioned having all the phone numbers, including cells, of everyone I knew on it, street addresses of distant friends and relatives, so that when we should be traveling I would have all this pertinent information at my fingertips. Ah yes. Visions of glory and well-organizedness. (Yes, that's a word; don't argue with me.) I began recording all this information, gathered from various sources, into Outlook.
Meanwhile, I went back to work on the 3rd. My *other* vision was accessing story outlines, character profiles, random notes, etc, from either my work computer or my home computer via the pda. It should be a simple matter, I thought. The pda would operate as a glorified flash drive.
Uh. Huh.
I installed the cds and hooked up the pda. Something went wrong; I wasn't sure what. It wouldn't let me open the profile or do anything on the second computer. A few days later when I was showing off the pda to somebody, I realized that I had no contact information. Odd.
Today (at home again) I determined to get to the bottom of things, learn more about how the thing works, since it was obvious I didn't quite have a handle on it yet. Little did I know how little a handle I really had. I struggled to synch it back to this computer and got continuous errors. Finally, with some help from Mar, I managed a hard re-set (there was nothing that dramatic ON the machine yet, nothing irreplaceable).
When there was finally a successful synchronization, I was interested to note that I still had no contact information. This very brilliant technologically gifted whiz had synched Outlook backwards, effectively deleting all the data not only from the handheld but from the home computer. I have NO database of my personal contacts. Anyone reading this, no doubt you're my imaginary friends. No doubt your info is safe in my yahoo address book. But for the flesh-and-blood folk I know, well...
I have a hardcopy backup from August '04, which isn't particularly recent. Honestly, most of the information won't be that hard to get again. Some of them I have memorized, others I have noted elsewhere. Others still I have phone numbers and snail mail addies for in my little address book. For the most part, this is just a nuisance. There are a very few, though, that I may have lost permanently. Those are likely ones I don't keep in good contact with to start with, and may not even remember they were once in my database. And that makes me sad.
And yes, I'm more than a little aggravated, too.
Now I discover that the Palm isn't really designed to work with multiple computers but that it can be done. If you or anyone you know has the same model I do, a Palm Tungsten E2, and have successfully set it up to operate on more than one machine (not networked machines), I'd really be glad to hear from you. Email me at valerierco AT yahoo DOT ca. Put something in the header so I know it isn't spam, please, if I don't already have your addy.
Oh, while I'm ranting, here's a related rant. As I've been mumbling about, the Palm is set to synch to Outlook. Then why does the Palm cd come with something called Palm Desktop? It has many of the same features--a contact list, a calendar, a task memo pad thingie--but the Palm Desktop is not even on the list of things to synch with in the custom setup (yes, I know where that is now!). So why would I use it?
So now that my Outlook is empty and the corners are all dusted out, I'm thinking, surely there is some way to transfer these files. So I've entered one address in Outlook and a different one into Palm Desktop. Then I spent a couple hours trying to figure out which direction would be easier to import/export these files.
I have a headache.
They have different file extensions. Fair enough. Outlook has a custom setting that I found after awhile that allows you to save a file in VCard format (for the Palm). Cool. So I do that. I'm hopeful that means it will add itself to the VCard homeland. Hahaha. I am the eternal optimist, and it is rarely well-founded. Today...definitely not well-founded. How do I find the VCard homeland in order to find the path to browse? I eventually find where Outlook has stored this lonely file, and I note the path. But when I do the process in reverse, to import it, the same folders do not exist. Honest. Cross my heart and hope to die; they are not in there.
So...I can save the Palm Desktop contact files in Excel format. Excellent. I not only know how to do that, but I can find the darn things later. And very excited to find that Outlook can import Excel files.
Oops.
Only if you have all the custom stuff downloaded off the Windows XP disk. I got out the disk, popped it in the drive, looked at the menu, and got cold feet.
With today's run of luck, I am not risking wiping WinXP off my computer as well. I'm sure I could do it. I am THAT talented.
Hubby's on his way home this evening. He phones from his cell phone. "So, how's your day been?"
Me: "Uh, okay."
Him: "Whatcha been doing?"
Me (thinking 'do I really want to go there over the phone?'): "Cleaned the house, did some laundry, went for a walk. Been working on the computer."
Him: "So, you getting things figured out on the Palm?"
Me (drat): "Um, you are sitting down, aren't you?" (Of course he's sitting down, idiot, he's DRIVING!!!!)
Do let us give credit where credit is due. Upon learning what I had done, he didn't yell or anything. Which was nice of him, because I was feeling like I deserved to be yelled at. Of course, I've been doing the yelling already. And really, what's the point? What's done is done. Yelling solves nothing.
That's today's mantra. Yelling solves nothing. But sometimes it feels good.
Saturday, December 30, 2006
I'm mostly back
I've been trying to upload more photos the last couple days but Picasa, Hello, and Blogger have been giving me fits. So I decided it was time to talk instead, lucky you! (And if a picture is worth a thousand words, that must mean a thousand words equals a picture, so we're gonna be here awhile.)
One of the photos I'd intended to post was of the flannel rag quilt I made for Jim, similar to the photo down below of the ones I made my girls. When I started cutting out squares back in October, he was really into the project. At one point he wistfully commented that it would be nice if I could make one for us *someday*. I truthfully told him I didn't know if that would ever happen as I was taking pain killers most days to keep the arthritic neck and shoulders under control (not to guilt my girls too much!) But it took me less time at the sewing machine to complete one quilt than I'd thought and I began to consider the idea of making a third one before Christmas.
I wanted to surprise him, and because he works out of town, that seemed possible. I decided that if I could find the right fabrics for it quickly, I'd push through and do the third one also. I figured I could just slow down on Jen's quilt and work on Jim's when he wasn't home. That way her quilt would still be the one laying around on the kitchen table, legitimizing that the sewing machine was still there. And it worked!
My last week at work (after I'd finished writing The Girl Who Cried Squid) I spent three and a half days snipping the seam allowances for the ragging on all three quilts. I truly wished I hadn't left them all to do at once, as I was sporting bandaids on thumb and fingers to keep the rubbing (from the scissors) from blistering. But done they were, and Jim was really surprised which was very worth it. I'll try to get the photo up yet, because I love the quilt so much, but its dark green with green and tan patterned squares. Gorgeous.
I was planning to post the photo of Jim's gift to me when I told about it, but that is the second photo that won't upload. So I'll just have to tell you about it! He bought me a Palm Tungsten E2 with a folding keyboard. Is this thing ever cool! I have a lot to learn about using it still but I'm loving the process. One of the truly neat things (besides that exceptionally cool little keyboard) is that it supports Word and Excel files to go. I'm looking forward to being able to tap in notes and stuff, especially during worldbuilding and outlining stages. Though some say they use a handheld for editing also, I'm not sure my eyeballs and brain would be up for long periods with it. But I'm really excited to try!!
I'm so thankful for Christmas this year. The only thing that could have made it better would have been if Jim could have gotten a couple extra days off work. As it was, he arrived home the morning of the 24th and left the evening of the 27th (the kids all cleared out the following morning). He tried to take off his night shifts on the 22nd and 23rd for my family's Christmas celebration but wasn't able. Still, the kids and I did have a good visit with my mom, my sis and b-i-l, their granddaughter, my niece and her hubby.
What a treasure for me to have my family together for five days: daughter, son-in-law, son, daughter-in-law. Words just can't express how much this meant to me. We haven't ever had Christmas together before, though it's the third Christmas since J&J were married. Many moments, many memories, many snapshots (on camera and in the mind) to tide me over until we can all be together again.
I still have a few days before I go back to work. I've started in on reading a stack of novels (the next few blog tour books are here) and a couple of writing books, The Writer's Guide to Fantasy Literature and Holly Lisle's Create a Culture Clinic. And I'm working some more on my website. Never a dull moment in Val's Little Worlds.
One of the photos I'd intended to post was of the flannel rag quilt I made for Jim, similar to the photo down below of the ones I made my girls. When I started cutting out squares back in October, he was really into the project. At one point he wistfully commented that it would be nice if I could make one for us *someday*. I truthfully told him I didn't know if that would ever happen as I was taking pain killers most days to keep the arthritic neck and shoulders under control (not to guilt my girls too much!) But it took me less time at the sewing machine to complete one quilt than I'd thought and I began to consider the idea of making a third one before Christmas.
I wanted to surprise him, and because he works out of town, that seemed possible. I decided that if I could find the right fabrics for it quickly, I'd push through and do the third one also. I figured I could just slow down on Jen's quilt and work on Jim's when he wasn't home. That way her quilt would still be the one laying around on the kitchen table, legitimizing that the sewing machine was still there. And it worked!
My last week at work (after I'd finished writing The Girl Who Cried Squid) I spent three and a half days snipping the seam allowances for the ragging on all three quilts. I truly wished I hadn't left them all to do at once, as I was sporting bandaids on thumb and fingers to keep the rubbing (from the scissors) from blistering. But done they were, and Jim was really surprised which was very worth it. I'll try to get the photo up yet, because I love the quilt so much, but its dark green with green and tan patterned squares. Gorgeous.
I was planning to post the photo of Jim's gift to me when I told about it, but that is the second photo that won't upload. So I'll just have to tell you about it! He bought me a Palm Tungsten E2 with a folding keyboard. Is this thing ever cool! I have a lot to learn about using it still but I'm loving the process. One of the truly neat things (besides that exceptionally cool little keyboard) is that it supports Word and Excel files to go. I'm looking forward to being able to tap in notes and stuff, especially during worldbuilding and outlining stages. Though some say they use a handheld for editing also, I'm not sure my eyeballs and brain would be up for long periods with it. But I'm really excited to try!!
I'm so thankful for Christmas this year. The only thing that could have made it better would have been if Jim could have gotten a couple extra days off work. As it was, he arrived home the morning of the 24th and left the evening of the 27th (the kids all cleared out the following morning). He tried to take off his night shifts on the 22nd and 23rd for my family's Christmas celebration but wasn't able. Still, the kids and I did have a good visit with my mom, my sis and b-i-l, their granddaughter, my niece and her hubby.
What a treasure for me to have my family together for five days: daughter, son-in-law, son, daughter-in-law. Words just can't express how much this meant to me. We haven't ever had Christmas together before, though it's the third Christmas since J&J were married. Many moments, many memories, many snapshots (on camera and in the mind) to tide me over until we can all be together again.
I still have a few days before I go back to work. I've started in on reading a stack of novels (the next few blog tour books are here) and a couple of writing books, The Writer's Guide to Fantasy Literature and Holly Lisle's Create a Culture Clinic. And I'm working some more on my website. Never a dull moment in Val's Little Worlds.
Saturday, July 29, 2006
So...what have I been up to?
Monday is the big day when All will be Revealed.
Yeah, I know, I keep promising. Sometimes it's hard for me to connect with my daughter online, and my learning curve for web work still requires a hand-hold at many stages. But the forum she is helping me build (shall I say that I am helping her build?) is nearly ready for the symbolic ribbon snipping.
Of course you have no idea what the forum is for! It's not just for a bunch of Val groupies to hang out. I'm under no illusions that I'm about to win the World Popularity Contest. The forum does have a purpose, though. Come back Monday and let me explain my evil plan for World Domination. Or maybe I'll leave that to Pinky and the Brain...
Yeah, I know, I keep promising. Sometimes it's hard for me to connect with my daughter online, and my learning curve for web work still requires a hand-hold at many stages. But the forum she is helping me build (shall I say that I am helping her build?) is nearly ready for the symbolic ribbon snipping.
Of course you have no idea what the forum is for! It's not just for a bunch of Val groupies to hang out. I'm under no illusions that I'm about to win the World Popularity Contest. The forum does have a purpose, though. Come back Monday and let me explain my evil plan for World Domination. Or maybe I'll leave that to Pinky and the Brain...
Friday, July 21, 2006
and its GONE
Just before noon today I hit *send* on the emails bearing Marks of Repentance off to my critiquers.
After completing the last thirty pages of editing that I'd had to leave yesterday, I ran a few *find* functions. Two were for *minute* and *hour*. Hey, I found WAY more of those than I would have guessed! I also inserted several paragraphs in a couple of places for a tad of foreshadowing I'd missed. Then I ran spell check. For some reason I've never gotten around to setting up special dictionaries for my projects. I can see it would be a huge help! I had some interesting typos on some of the location and character names, as well as a few on *normal* English words that I really should have caught in the edits. Oh well. Now it is up to the critters to see what I missed and how the whole thing hangs together. I don't expect to have it back from everybody for a couple months or so.
What to do with my time?
Two of the three crits are back on False Perceptions. I'm planning to wait for the third before taking out a fine-tooth comb and going through them. I've read enough of the first two to know that I don't know what I'll be doing to it next. The four months' worth of rewriting didn't solve all its problems to be sure. So that's kinda frustrating.
I could get back to the worldbuilding for my new Christian fantasy project, Puppet Prince. It's the 2 year novel (2yn) that I've been ignoring for several months now. I think it's going to be a fun project; it has some solid skeleton already in place.
For the next few weeks I'm planning to concentrate on getting my website operational and my secret project up and running. Then I have a week's holidays in early August. Maybe by then the project will be ready to roll (generating some of its own steam) and I'll go back to Puppet Prince.
For now, that sounds like a good plan. Good plans are always subject to change.
After completing the last thirty pages of editing that I'd had to leave yesterday, I ran a few *find* functions. Two were for *minute* and *hour*. Hey, I found WAY more of those than I would have guessed! I also inserted several paragraphs in a couple of places for a tad of foreshadowing I'd missed. Then I ran spell check. For some reason I've never gotten around to setting up special dictionaries for my projects. I can see it would be a huge help! I had some interesting typos on some of the location and character names, as well as a few on *normal* English words that I really should have caught in the edits. Oh well. Now it is up to the critters to see what I missed and how the whole thing hangs together. I don't expect to have it back from everybody for a couple months or so.
What to do with my time?
Two of the three crits are back on False Perceptions. I'm planning to wait for the third before taking out a fine-tooth comb and going through them. I've read enough of the first two to know that I don't know what I'll be doing to it next. The four months' worth of rewriting didn't solve all its problems to be sure. So that's kinda frustrating.
I could get back to the worldbuilding for my new Christian fantasy project, Puppet Prince. It's the 2 year novel (2yn) that I've been ignoring for several months now. I think it's going to be a fun project; it has some solid skeleton already in place.
For the next few weeks I'm planning to concentrate on getting my website operational and my secret project up and running. Then I have a week's holidays in early August. Maybe by then the project will be ready to roll (generating some of its own steam) and I'll go back to Puppet Prince.
For now, that sounds like a good plan. Good plans are always subject to change.
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